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63-531: The Springfield Science Museum was founded in December 1859 at Springfield's City Hall, originally as a natural history museum and curiosities collection. It was moved to the City Library in 1871, when the library gained its own building separate from City Hall. Early exhibits included geological displays of rocks and minerals, and Revolutionary War relics. In the early 1890s the museum was moved once again, this time to

126-479: A cemetery. The California Courts of Appeal sided with the construction company, which finished in its destruction of the burial grounds for residential development. Maria Pearson is often credited with being the earliest catalyst for the passage of NAGPRA legislation; she has been called "the Founding Mother of modern Indian repatriation movement" and the " Rosa Parks of NAGPRA". In the early 1970s, Pearson

189-476: A crosswalk on State Street, where the Central branch is located. The pickets were a response to the death of librarian Gayle Ball, who was struck and killed by a driver while crossing the street to the employee parking lot. Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act ( NAGPRA ), Pub. L. 101-601, 25 U.S.C. 3001 et seq., 104 Stat. 3048,

252-687: A form of entertainment for the Americans. By November 1, 1897, they were admitted to the Bellevue Hospital Center with tuberculosis , which they likely had contracted before their trip. In February, the first Inuit died, followed shortly after by two more. By the time the sickness had run its course, only two men survived. Minik was adopted by a superintendent of the museum, while Uissakassak returned to his homeland in Greenland. Later, after being lied to and being told that his father Qisuk had received

315-541: A handful have obtained federal recognition as Native Americans and descendants of Native American bands. Congress attempted to "strike a balance between the interest in scientific examination of skeletal remains and the recognition that Native Americans, like people from every culture around the world, have a religious and spiritual reverence for the remains of their ancestors." The act also requires each federal agency, museum, or institution that receives federal funds to prepare an inventory of remains and funerary objects and

378-448: A hundred known examples. The helmet had been given to the museum sometime in 1899, but was miscatalogued as an "Aleution hat". The Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska announced at the time they intended to request repatriation of the helmet. According to NAGPRA , the museum had 148 Native American remains in the 1990s. A 2004 report from the museum reported that 84 remains were made available for return. 2007 marked

441-489: A lab for study instead. Pearson protested to Governor Robert D. Ray , finally gaining an audience with him after sitting outside his office in traditional attire. "You can give me back my people's bones and you can quit digging them up", she responded when the governor asked what he could do for her. The ensuing controversy led to the passage of the Iowa Burials Protection Act of 1976, the first legislative act in

504-556: A library, although it was still privately funded until 1885, when a city appropriation removed all fees. Private donations and gifts totaling $ 100,000 allowed for the creation of a Gothic-style building, located on the corner of State Street and Chestnut Street. The land was donated by George Bliss , the former Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and President of the Massachusetts Senate . By 1892,

567-479: A preponderance of evidence to be Native American, would give the tribe of the geographic area where he was found a claim to the remains. Anthropologists wanted to preserve and study the remains, however, steps had already been taken to repatriate the Kennewick Man given that he was discovered on federal lands. A lawsuit was filed by Douglas Owsley and Robson Bonnichsen , along with other notable anthropologists, in

630-501: A proper Inuit burial, Minik was shocked to find his father's skeleton on display in the museum. In 1993 the museum agreed to return the four Inuit skeletons to Greenland for proper burial. Representatives of the Museum went to Greenland that year to participate. In contrast to peoples in other areas, some local Inuit thought that the burial was more desired by the Christian representatives of

693-513: A short time for analysis before the remains must be returned. Once it is determined that human remains are American Indian, analysis can occur only through documented consultation (on federal lands) or consent (on tribal lands). A criminal provision of the Act prohibits trafficking in Native American human remains, or in Native American "cultural items." Under the inventory and notification provision of

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756-413: A significant tension that exists between the tribes' communal interests in the respectful treatment of their deceased ancestors and related cultural items and the scientists' individual interests in the study of those same human remains and items. The act divides the treatment of American Indian human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony into two basic categories. Under

819-569: A subsequent conviction from five years to ten years. An initial conviction for trafficking of Native American cultural items remains a misdemeanor (imprisonment of up to one year), but the penalty for a subsequent conviction was likewise changed from five to ten years. The Department of the Interior revised the regulations implementing NAGPRA in 2024 to clarify steps for its implementation. The revised regulations, which went into effect on January 12, 2024, state "...museums and Federal agencies must defer to

882-575: A summary of sacred objects, cultural patrimony objects, and unassociated funerary objects. The act provides for repatriation of these items when requested by the appropriate descendant of the tribe. This applies to remains or objects discovered at any time, even before November 16, 1990. Since the legislation passed, the human remains of approximately 32,000 individuals have been returned to their respective tribes. Nearly 670,000 funerary objects, 120,000 unassociated funerary objects, and 3,500 sacred objects have been returned. The statute attempts to mediate

945-471: Is a United States federal law enacted on November 16, 1990. The Act requires federal agencies and institutions that receive federal funding to return Native American "cultural items" to lineal descendants and culturally affiliated American Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages, and Native Hawaiian organizations. Cultural items include human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony. A program of federal grants assists in

1008-481: Is classified as part of the ancestral land of the Umatilla. Archaeologists said that because of Kennewick Man's great age, there was insufficient evidence to connect him to modern tribes. The great age of the remains makes this discovery scientifically valuable. As archaeologists, forensic specialists, and linguists differed about whether the adult male was of Indigenous origin, the standing law, if conclusively found by

1071-706: Is near the Cheyenne Cultural Center in Clinton, Oklahoma . Institutions with non-repatriated remains: Cal NAGPRA (Assembly Bill (978) is an act created by the state of California which was signed into law in 2001. The act was created to implement the same repatriation expectations for state-funded institutions, museums, repositories, or collections as those federally supported through NAGPRA. Cal NAGPRA also supports non-federally recognized tribes within California that were exempt from legal rights to repatriation under

1134-465: Is to inter unidentified remains in regional burial sites. Over 110,000 remains that cannot be associated with a particular tribe are held in institutions across the United States, as of 2006. The project seeks to enable a process of reconciliation between Native and non-Native peoples, construct cedar burial boxes, produce burial cloths and fund the repatriation of remains. The first of the burial sites

1197-615: The American Museum of Natural History in New York, at the request of the anthropologist Franz Boas, in order to "obtain leisurely certain information which will be of the greatest scientific importance" regarding Inuit culture . About two weeks after arrival at the museum, all six of the Inuit became sick with colds and fever. They began to perform their tribal healing process and were mocked for their bizarre behavior. Viewing these people became

1260-540: The Smithsonian Institution (founded in 1846) and museums associated with universities, but also between museums in the United States and museums in Europe. In the 1880s and 1890s, collecting was done by untrained adventurers. As of the year 1990, federal agencies reported having the remains of 14,500 deceased Natives in their possession, which had accumulated since the late 19th century. Many institutions said they used

1323-516: The repatriation process and the Secretary of the Interior may assess civil penalties on museums that fail to comply. NAGPRA also establishes procedures for the inadvertent discovery or planned excavation of Native American cultural items on federal or tribal lands. While these provisions do not apply to discoveries or excavations on private or state lands, the collection provisions of the Act may apply to Native American cultural items if they come under

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1386-533: The 1851 Massachusetts Public Library Law, which authorized cities and towns to establish and maintain public libraries, as well as an 1855 petition by residents requesting funding for a library. Prior to this, the Springfield Library Company ran a private library, which had been founded as early as 1796 and contained over 300 volumes. The City Library Association provided a room in City Hall to be used as

1449-409: The 1970 UNESCO Convention. The UNESCO convention membership increased to 86 countries by 1997, and 193 by 2007. UNESCO appears to be reducing the illicit antiquities trade. Although difficult to track, the scholar Phyllis Messenger notes that some antiquities traders have written articles denouncing the agreements, which suggests that it is reducing items sold to them. An international predecessor of

1512-541: The 20th century with the expansion of suburbs and urban sprawl . For example, in Wana the Bear v. Community Construction (1982), two-hundred Miwok ancestral remains were bulldozed in the development of a residential area in Stockton, California . A descendant of the people, Wana the Bear, attempted to prevent further desecration by arguing that the site should continue to be protected as

1575-565: The Art museum. The museum's collections began being moved to its own building in February 1899, and it opened as the Springfield Ethnological and Natural History Museum on October 16, 1899. In 1928, the museum received Miss Oita, one of 58 Japanese friendship dolls , which has remained in the museum's collection up to the present day. Exhibits present in the 1930s, which are still present in

1638-826: The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Nez Perce Tribe, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, and the Wanapum Band of Priest Rapids. The remains were buried on February 18, 2017, with 200 members of five Columbia Basin tribes, at an undisclosed location in the area. Return to the Earth is an inter-religious project whose goal

1701-519: The Library had outgrown the building, and plans began to construct a new library building. In order to provide continuous library service to Springfield residents during the construction, Charles R. Trask was hired to move the original building 200 feet to make space for the new building. This task was completed over three weeks, using twelve steel rollers and a team of twelve men, moving the building an average of ten feet per day. The city allocated $ 18,498 for

1764-490: The Native American collections in order to identify the living heirs, culturally affiliated Indian tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations of remains and artifacts. NAGPRA has had a dramatic effect on the day-to-day practice of archaeology and physical anthropology in the United States. In many cases, NAGPRA helped stimulate interactions of archaeologists and museum professionals with Native Americans that were felt to be constructive by all parties. The late 19th century

1827-540: The Native American traditional knowledge of lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations." The intent of the NAGPRA legislation is to address long-standing claims by federally recognized tribes for the return of human remains and cultural objects unlawfully obtained from pre-contact, post-contact, former, and current Native American homelands. Interpretation of human and Indigenous rights , prehistoric presence, cultural affiliation with antiquities, and

1890-586: The Springfield Memorial Square branch, now used as a Greek cultural center. With an additional $ 155,000 contributed by Springfield residents, construction on the Central Library began in April 1910 for a Renaissance Revival style building designed by Edward Lippincott Tilton . A trestle designed by city librarian Hiller C. Wellman was used to transport books from the old building to the new one, and

1953-648: The UNESCO Convention and NAGPRA is the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict . The Hague Convention was the first international convention to focus on preserving cultural heritage from the devastation of war. Looting and destruction of other civilizations have been characteristics of war recorded from the first accounts of all cultures. On September 30, 1897, Lieutenant Robert Peary brought six Inuit from Greenland to

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2016-563: The United States that specifically protected Native American remains. Emboldened by her success, Pearson went on to lobby national leaders, and her efforts, combined with the work of many other activists, led to the creation of NAGPRA. Pearson and other activists were featured in the 1995 BBC documentary Bones of Contention . The 1987 looting of a 500-year-old burial mound at the Slack Farm in Kentucky , in which human remains were tossed to

2079-427: The act, federal agencies and institutions that receive federal funds are required to summarize their collections that may contain items subject to NAGPRA. Additionally, federal agencies and institutions must prepare inventories of human remains and funerary objects. Under the act, funerary objects are considered "associated" if they were buried as part of a burial ceremony with a set of human remains still in possession of

2142-516: The branch officially opened on January 10, 1912. The library claims to be one of the first to feature open shelving, and to circulate phonograph records. In 1974, the Central Library was put on the National Register of Historic Places. The Indian Orchard Branch was added to the Register in 1999. Major renovations at the Central Library were completed in 2019 to improve accessibility, replace

2205-632: The construction of the new building, and in 1905, Andrew Carnegie donated $ 260,000 to the City Library Association to assist with the Central Library construction, as well as three additional branches. These included the Springfield Indian Orchard Branch , designed by John Donahue in a Georgian Revival style and opened in 1909, as well as the Forest Park Library, frequently visited by Theodor S. Geisel as child, and

2268-533: The control of an institution that receives federal funding. NAGPRA makes it a criminal offense to traffic in Native American human remains without right of possession or in Native American cultural items obtained in violation of the Act. Penalties for a first offense could originally reach 12 months imprisonment and a $ 100,000 fine. The statute was amended in 2022 to increase the penalty for a first conviction for trafficking Native American human remains from 12 months imprisonment to one year and one day (a felony) and for

2331-490: The current building, include the Native American Hall, with a diorama of two Native American men and one woman engaged in tool-making and cooking, and Habitat Hall, which features dioramas of taxidermied animals in their natural habitats. A Bird Hall also existed, with various local specimens and a case of extinct species (including the passenger pigeon , heath hen , and Carolina parakeet ). Another since-removed area

2394-413: The federal NAGPRA act. The issues of such resources are being addressed by international groups dealing with Indigenous rights. For example, in 1995 the United States signed an agreement with El Salvador in order to protect all pre‑Columbian artifacts from leaving the region. Soon after, it signed similar agreements with Canada , Peru , Guatemala , and Mali and demonstrated leadership in implementing

2457-403: The federal agency or other institution. "Unassociated" funerary objects are artifacts where human remains were not initially collected by—or were subsequently destroyed, lost, or no longer in possession of—the agency or institution. Consequently, this legislation also applies to many Native American artifacts , especially burial items and religious artifacts. It has necessitated mass cataloguing of

2520-505: The federal government to the states under the Water Resources Department Act. However, the provisions of the legislation do not apply to private lands. The Act states that Native American remains and associated funerary objects belong to lineal descendants . If lineal descendants cannot be identified, then those remains and objects, along with associated funerary and sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony belong to

2583-528: The gutter system, and install an outdoor plaza. In 2005, the Springfield Library Foundation was formed and incorporated as a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation, helping to support the purchase of books and materials, facility improvements, and staff development initiatives. City library employees, who are unionized, picketed the Central Library in July, 2023 to protest inaction in construction of

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2646-576: The hopes of preventing the repatriation of the skeleton. In 2004, the court sided with the plaintiffs' assertion that due to the skeleton's age, there was not enough information available at the time to conclude whether the Kennewick Man had any cultural or genetic ties to any present day Native American tribes, and granted the plaintiffs' request to further study the remains. New evidence could still emerge in defense of tribal claims to ancestry, but emergent evidence may require more sophisticated and precise methods of determining genetic descent, given that there

2709-476: The inadvertent discovery and planned excavation component of the act and regulations, if federal officials anticipate that activities on federal and tribal lands after November 16, 1990 might have an effect on American Indian burials—or if burials are discovered during such activities—they must consult with potential lineal descendants or American Indian tribal officials as part of their compliance responsibilities. For planned excavations, consultation must occur during

2772-523: The legislation can be complicated such as the Kennewick Man , a skeleton found on July 28, 1996 near Kennewick, Washington . The almost complete skeleton was close to 9,000 years old. Ancient remains from North America are rare, making it a valuable scientific discovery. The federally recognized Umatilla , Colville , Yakima , and Nez Perce tribes had each claimed Kennewick Man as their ancestor, and sought permission to rebury him. Kennewick, Washington

2835-401: The most recent year of repatriation , at which point 78% of all reported remains had been made available for return to tribes. In 2023, the museum reported having repatriated 25 additional remains, although these are not documented by NAGPRA. At one point, the museum had more than 600 objects associated with funerals; as of January 2023, 562 had been made available for return. As of October 2023,

2898-518: The museum have covered a variety of topics, from natural gas (1993), to extinction (1998), to the history of bicycles (2002). The African Hall features multiple taxidermied Savanna species, including a chimpanzee who lived at the Forest Park Zoo until 1967, and a giraffe, acquired in 1985, that died at a park in Oklahoma . The Dinosaur Hall includes a lifesize Tyrannosaurus rex model, which

2961-496: The museum in 1921. The collection was loaned to Southington for a year and opened there in September 1985. The museum announced their intentions to repatriate two Seneca masks in 1997, and Klamath jewelry and a Navajo pouch In 2002. The museum repatriated one set of human remains to Hawaii in 1997. In 2013, the museum's curator found a mid-19th century Tlingit war helmet in the museum's collection, making it one of fewer than

3024-545: The museum self-reported having 31 human remains and 109 associated funerary objects. Springfield City Library (Massachusetts) The Springfield City Library is a public library system in Springfield, Massachusetts . The system includes ten branches across the city, with the Central branch located at 220 State Street, next to Merrick Park . In 1857, the City Library Association was formed in Springfield in response to

3087-520: The museum, and that the remains could have just as appropriately been kept in New York. David Hurst Thomas ' study of the case shows the complexity of reburial and repatriation cases, and the need for individual approaches to each case by all affected parties. In the United States, the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) protects archaeological sites on federally owned lands. Privately owned sites are controlled by

3150-416: The planetarium's "star ball", as they were unable to afford equipment from Zeiss . In 1979 or 1980, the museum received a taxidermied polar bear , Snowball, who had lived at the Forest Park Zoo for 29 years. In 1986, a Massachusetts man stole "Indian artifacts" from the museum, as well as from five other Massachusetts museums; the artifacts were recovered in February 1987. Temporary exhibits hosted by

3213-406: The planning phase of the project. For inadvertent discoveries, the regulations delineate a set of short deadlines for initiating and completing consultation. The repatriation provision, unlike the ownership provision, applies to remains or objects discovered at any time, even before the effective date of the act, whether or not discovered on tribal or federal land. The act allows archaeological teams

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3276-495: The remains of Native Americans for anthropological research, to gain more information about humans. At one time, in since discredited comparative racial studies, institutions such as the Army Medical Museum sought to demonstrate racial characteristics to prove the inferiority of Native Americans. Residential and commercial development was a driving force in the desecration of many Native American burial sites, particularly in

3339-656: The return of remains and objects can be controversial and contested. It includes provisions that delineate the legal processes by which museums and federal agencies are required to return certain Native American cultural items—human remains, gravesite materials, and other objects of cultural patrimony—to proven lineal descendants, culturally-related Native American tribes, and Native Hawaiian groups. Outcomes of NAGPRA repatriation efforts are slow and cumbersome, leading many tribes to spend considerable effort documenting their requests; collections' holders are obliged to inform and engage with tribes whose materials they may possess. NAGPRA

3402-578: The side while relics were stolen, made national news and helped to galvanize popular support for protection of Native American graves. Likewise, several protests at the Dickson Mounds site in Illinois , where numerous Indian skeletons were exposed on display, also increased national awareness of the issue. A number of archeologists are concerned that they are being prevented from studying ancient remains which cannot be traced to any historic tribe. Many of

3465-409: The tribe on whose lands the remains were found or the tribe having the closest known relationship to them. Tribes find the burden of proof is on them, if it becomes necessary to demonstrate a cultural relationship that may not be well-documented or understood. Nowhere has this issue been more pronounced than in California, where many small bands were extinguished before they could be recognized, and only

3528-574: The tribes migrated to their territories at the time of European encounter within 100–500 years from other locations, so their ancestors were not located in the historic territories. The issue has repeatedly stalled archaeological investigations, such as in the case of the Spirit Cave mummy ; fears have been voiced that an anti-scientific sentiment could well have permeated politics to an extent that scientists might find their work to be continuously barred by Native Americans rights activists. Compliance with

3591-518: Was appalled that the skeletal remains of Native Americans were treated differently from white remains. Her husband, an engineer with the Iowa Department of Transportation, told her that both Native American and white remains were uncovered during road construction in Glenwood, Iowa . While the remains of 26 white burials were quickly reburied, the remains of a Native American mother and child were sent to

3654-463: Was enacted primarily at the insistence and by the direction of members of Native American nations. Tribes had many reasons based in law that made legislation concerning tribal grave protection and repatriation necessary. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act is a law that establishes the ownership of cultural items excavated or discovered on federal or tribal land after November 16, 1990. The act also applies to land transferred by

3717-460: Was installed in April 1975. The hall also includes a cast of Stegosaurus , and both a legbone of Alamosaurus and fragment of a tyrannosaurid believed to represent a new species, both collected in a 1920s Amherst College expedition led by Fred Brewster Loomis . The museum's planetarium , Seymour Planetarium, which opened in November 1937, was one of a few of the era not built by Zeiss . It

3780-506: Was no cultural evidence accompanying the remains. One tribe claiming ancestry to Kennewick Man offered up a DNA test, and in 2015 it was found that the Kennewick man is "more closely related to modern Native Americans than any other living population." In September 2016, the U.S. House and Senate passed legislation to return the ancient bones to a coalition of Columbia Basin tribes for reburial according to their traditions. The coalition includes

3843-465: Was one of the most difficult periods in Native American history regarding the loss of cultural artifacts and land. With the founding of museums and scholarly studies of Native American peoples increasing with the growth of anthropology and archeology as disciplines, private collectors and museums competed to acquire artifacts, which many Native Americans considered ancestral assets, but others sold. This competition existed not only between museums such as

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3906-561: Was remodeled and officially reopened in April 2023. The museum has its own observatory with a 20-inch (51 cm) telescope that is periodically open to the public. In 1985, a Southington council member requested that the museum return the Luman Andrews collection, a collection of Native American objects collected by a Southington resident, to the Connecticut town from which he originated. The collection had originally been donated to

3969-471: Was the Hall of Ethnology, which showcased Native American baskets and tools, traditional Greenlandic clothing, musical instruments from around the world, and dolls from around the world. Although not ready at the time of the museum's 1934 re-opening, the building did leave space for a planetarium, which would ultimately open in November 1937. The museum turned to Chicopee locals Frank and Stanley Korkosz to create

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